On Friday, October 24, the Chicago Blackhawks finally parted ways with forward Lukas Riechel in return for a 2027 4th-round pick from the Vancouver Canucks. The pick was also the Hawks’ own 4th-round pick they traded to the Canucks in return for Ilya Mikheyev last year.
Reichel, drafted in the first round in 2020, never panned out with the Hawks. Before Connor Bedard arrived, there was a ton of hype around Reichel. Some speculated that he could be a star on this Hawks team. Once Bedard arrived, despite some evident inconsistency problems, there was fair speculation that Reichel could be on Bedard’s wing.
Over the course of five NHL seasons, Reichel never proved he could be a consistent difference-maker. At 23 years old, he’s still young. He could absolutely hit (and he might), but it’s just not with the Hawks. His five games this year embodied his tenure in Chicago. He had an impressive one game where he scored two goals and an assist. Since then, he was quiet. He averaged just under 10 minutes a game in all situations, according to Evolving Hockey.
Moving on from Reichel makes sense. We’ve seen enough of him in the top four to see that he hasn’t proved anything. His skill set (speed and offensive reads) isn’t really suited for a bottom-six role. And the Hawks have a lot of prospects who are better suited for that role. Reichel had one more chance to prove that he’s a top-six player against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He played with Connor Bedard, who made Philipp Kurashev look like a star two years ago, and eventually played one or two shifts in the third period.
I want to say that I wish the Blackhawks had gotten more from this trade. The Canucks need center depth. But because Reichel made it known that he wanted out of Chicago and the Blackhawks were reportedly shopping him, his price tag wasn’t going to be all too high.
Yes, the image at the top is Old Yeller.